possesses considerable information; and on this account, no less than on account of the popularity of his delivery, he might soon become honourably distinguished.

Of this great change, however, there is no great hope. Mistaking popularity for reputation, perhaps even preferring the former to the latter, still unworthy ambition may, notwithstanding his advantages, private as well as public, operate against his advance towards substantial respectability, and actual dignity. His lot seems now cast, and it is his choice.

ROBERT HALL, A. M.

As matters stand at present,' writes Mr. Toplady, September the 6th, 1768, to one of his friends, 'tis a great blessing, never to be sufficiently valued and acknowledged, that there are some faithful Ministers of every Protestant denomination among us; so that no denomination, unless particularly circumstanced, need go beyond their own tents in order to gather the Gospel manna.' Things seem still the same. What this writer affirms of the condition of religion upwards of forty years since, may be as truly asserted at the present hour, and of the times in which we live.

Robert Hall is son of the Rev. Robert Hall, a particular Baptist Minister, of Arnsby in Leicestershire. He was first placed under the care of the late singular Dr. Ryland, of Northamp ton; and then sent to the Baptist Academy at

Bristol; whence he proceeded to King's College, Aberdeen, about the year 1781. Having, after four years' residence, taken his degree as A. M., he returned to Bristol, where he was chosen Assistant to the late Dr. Caleb Evans, with whom he continued till the commencement of 1791, when it was his lot to succeed the late Robert Robinson of Cambridge. Circumstances inducing him to quit that place, he removed to Leicester, where he is now Pastor of the Baptist Society meeting in Harvey Lane. He has lately married, has one daughter, and is likely to have other issue.

Among Mr. Hall's printed sermons, there are two which authorize particular mention. His sermon entitled Modern Infidelity considered with respect to its Influence on Society,' preached by him in the Baptist Meeting at Cambridge, so much attracted the notice of the late Mr. Pitt, as to induce him to express his wish to see the preacher within the pale of our ecclesiastical establishment. It must be cause of regret, ‘that he did not enter,' conformably with his first re

solution, into a fuller and more particular examination of the Infidel Philosophy; both with respect to its speculative principles and its practical effects, its influence on society and on the individual.' Mr. Hall's second great sermon is that on The Sentiments proper to the present Crisis' which he delivered in Mr. Lowell's Meeting at Bristol, on the 19th of October, 1803; being the day appointed for a general Fast. Eloquently patriotic and piously animated, this ser

mon is rather an oration than a discourse.

It

Much as these sermons were once read, extensively as they were then estimated, the following paragraph, from the first of the two, appears to me of such momentous importance at this crisis, and of so much ulterior conséquence in time to come, that I shall take the liberty of transcribing it into this work. To an attentive observer of the Signs of the Times,? remarks the preacher, it will appear one of the most extraordinary phenomena of this eventful crisis, that, amidst the ravages of atheism and

infidelity, real religion is evidently on the increase. The kingdom of God, we know, cometh not with observation; but still there are not wanting manifest tokens of its approach. The personal appearance of the Son of God was announced by the shaking of nations; his spiritual kingdom, in all probability, will be established in the midst of similar convulsions and disorders. The blasphemous impiety of the enemies of God, as well as the zealous efforts of his sincere worshippers, will, doubtless, be overruled to accomplish the purposes of his unerring providence: while, in inflicting the chastisements of offended Deity on corrupt communities and nations, infidelity marks its progress by devastation and ruin, by the prostration of thrones and the concussion of kingdoms, thus appalling the inhabitants of the world and compelling them to take refuge in the church of God, the true sanctuary; the stream of divine knowledge, unobserved, is flowing in new channels, winding its course among humble vallies, refreshing thirsty deserts, and enriching, with far other